National Theatre Live

KING LEAR

Not rated • 227 min • from Chichester Festival Theatre

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Recorded live in 2018, see Ian McKellen’s ‘extraordinarily moving portrayal’ (Independent) of King Lear.

Chichester Festival Theatre’s production received five-star reviews for its sell-out run, and transfered to the West End for a limited season. Jonathan Munby directs this ‘nuanced and powerful’ (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play.

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two ageing fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.